


Nova

by SonglordsBug



Series: Storm of Stars [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, I tried not to go very graphic with anything, Tarsus IV, but it is tarsus, please tread carefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23454817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonglordsBug/pseuds/SonglordsBug
Summary: Shipped off to Tarsus IV, after destroying a vintage car and blowing up a garage, Jim and Alex find it a wonderful place to live... until the shortage starts.
Series: Storm of Stars [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1682089
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> crossposting from stumblr

The thing about Tarsus IV is that it was idyllic.

A very low degree of axial tilt kept the weather moderate and consistent year round. Everything was shades of green except for riotous paint splashes of wildflowers.

To a pair of kids who had spent most of their lives shipboard, it was amazing. And while they missed their Dad and Sam, it was a relief to be away from Frank.

And their host family, consisting of husbands Bernard and Phillippe and Bernard’s sister Margot, was warm and welcoming. They took in a pair of wary preteens and charmed them with treats and wisecracks, freedom and learning. They never tried to claim their family nicknames, sensing that Jamie and Lexie were meant for only a few specific people, instead fondly calling them JT and Alessia.

Bernard taught them to bake, Phillippe to garden, and Margot took them on adventures that included everything from rock climbing to spelunking. They also took lessons from everyone willing to teach, which led to Jim running around the house giddily when Hoshi Sato agreed to work with him. Alessia split her time between learning Russian at the Alekseyev household and Vulcan from the family that had come to provide their expertise in something relating to soil microbes.

And then the fungus came and the crops started failing. Bernard, Phillippe, and Margot didn’t try to hide it, but they did try to downplay it, less than successfully.

And then the meetings were announced.


	2. Chapter 2

“…so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV.”

The words rung in the air as people looked around in shock and despair.

“So what, they’re just not going to feed us?” Margot asked incredulously.

“Worse…” Phillippe breathed, face paling with his eyes locked on something at the edge of the crowd.

They followed his gaze to see soldiers with weapons. Before they could respond, the soldiers opened fire and the screaming started.

Bernard was hit first, making a quiet grunting sound as blood started gushing. He looked down at his body, eyes wide and mouth half open, before heavily lifting his head, jaw clenching and eyes firming. He took a couple staggering steps forward and collapsed on top of Alessia. She screamed and struggled futilely to push his deadweight off of her.

“Play… dead… ‘Lessia…” Bernard breathed before going limp.

Alessia froze as horrified understanding washed over her. She did her best to stay still for the interminable space of time, going so far as to hold her breath when she heard booted footsteps pass nearby. Then there was a strange stirring and someone heaved Bernard’s weight off of her.

She tensed, ready to lunge, and barely refrained from punching JT’s blood and tear stained face. She breathed in sharply in relief.

“Jamie you’re all right?” she gasped.

He nodded shakily, reaching out to pull her up.

“'Llippe and Mar-” he choked and she nodded.

They clung to each other before pulling back and looking around warily.

“S'not safe here, we should-” JT started.

“What’s that?” Alessia interrupted sharply.

JT whipped around to follow her gaze to where something- no, someone was moving among the bodies. They exchanged a glance and approached cautiously. Alessia hissed when they got close enough to make out features.

“Sarvok?” she asked cautiously.

The Vulcan boy dismissed them with a glance and continued shifting through the bodies.

“What are you doing, man?” JT asked, warily.

“Jacob is here,” Sarvok says flatly.

“Oh Sarvok,” Alessia says, voice gentle.

“He is alive. I can feel it,” Sarvok snaps.

“For real?” JT asks, looking at Alessia questioningly.

She shrugged uncertainly.

“Why else would I stay here at risk?” Sarvok asked.

“Okay,” JT said, and started helping, Alessia following a moment later.

After several tense minutes full of anxious glances around, they uncovered a pale and bleeding but breathing Jacob. JT and Alessia hung back as Sarvok gently called him back to consciousness.

This put the twins in a position to catch sight of two small come sneaking out of the gloom.

“Hey! Who- Tommy?” JT called out.

“JT?” the boy asked, voice wavering with exhaustion and fear even as he put his body between them and the smaller figure accompanying him.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me and Alessia, bud,” JT said, voice gentle. “Why don’t you come over here? That eye doesn’t look too good. And who’s that with you? Is that l'il Kev?”

“'Lo JT,” said six year old Kevin Riley with a sniffle. “We couldn’t find Mick.”

JT flicked a questioning look at Tom, whose face almost crumpled as he shook his head slightly.

“But that’s okay Kev, cause Mickey 'n I’re practically brothers and that makes me your other older brother an’ I’ll take care of you,” the eight year old assured Kevin.

“That’s right, we’re all gonna take care of each other,” Alessia said firmly as Sarvok stood, supporting Jacob.

Before anyone could add to that, there were several bellows that had them all dropping to the ground. The crashes of booted feet headed into the nearby woods and they cautiously got up again.

“We should leave,” Sarvok said, voice flat and body tense. “The longer we are here, the more likely our discovery is.”

“But where can we go?” Tommy asked, brows crumpled and face pinched as he tightened his grip on Kev’s hand.

“Alessia 'n I know some good places we can hide, don’t we?” JT said, looking over at his sister.

“Yeah,” Alessia said slowly, looking in the direction the boots had gone with a frown.

“We should see if we can salvage any food on the way, before it gets harder,” Jacob said quietly.

“That’s a good-” JT started to say when he was cut off by a piercing scream, young and afraid.

Alessia took off running towards the scream.

“See if you can find any food, and then meet us- at the old waterwheel,” JT said before following his sister.


	3. Chapter 3

Alessia ran, all of her body focused on getting to the screams. JT wasn’t able to catch up until she slowed as the sounds of struggle and adult voices became audible under the screams.

They peered cautiously around a tree to see a pair of soldiers struggling to hold on to the desperately flailing Alekseyev girls. Alessia’s jaw clenched and she prepared to lunge out and try to stop them, but JT stopper her with two fingers to her wrist.

She turned to him with a glare, but he just gestured towards several large rocks. Eyes lighting, she nodded and they each grabbed one.

In tandem they stepped out and brought the rocks crashing down on the soldiers unprotected necks. Alessia downed her soldier with one blow, but JT had to hit a second time.

The girls scrabbled away, sobbing, and Alessia knelt down in front of them.

“Nadezhda, Alyona, it’s all right, they won’t hurt you, JT and I won’t let them,” she said in as firm and gentle a voice as she could manage.

“D'you promise?” the girls asked.

Alessia hesitated but JT did not.

“We promise,” he said firmly.

Alessia shot him a frown but he just clenched his jaw and hugged Nadezhda and Alyona, who had crept over to him.

“Are either of you hurt?” he asked.

Mutely they showed him their wrists, red and chafed and starting to bloom purple-green where the soldiers had gripped their wrists. JT sucked in a sympathetic hiss.

“Anywhere else?” he asked.

They shook their heads and then Alyona tugged on his wrist.

“Pasha kept running,” she said, eyes dark.

“He’s here?” JT asked, eyebrows raising as Alessia scanned their surroundings warily.

They nodded.

“We told him to keep running and hide,” Nadezhda said.

“Then we better go find him before someone else does, huh,” JT said with a quirk of his lips.

“Yes, but first…” Alessia said, and started rummaging through the soldiers’ pockets.

While JT and the girls stared, she found ammo, some electronics, and a few rations. She pocketed it all and shouldered the rifles.

“Let’s go,” she said.

The four of them headed deeper into the woods, calling out “Pasha!” as loudly as they dared.

Finally there was a rustle and a pair of bright eyes under a mop of curls appeared.

“Nadya? Alya?” he asked.

“Pasha!” Nadezhda and Alyona cried, rushing over to hug him.

The three chattered in Russian for several long minutes before looking expectantly at JT and Alessia.

“I ran,” Pasha said solemnly.

“Really far!” JT agreed. “You tired now?”

Pasha nodded.

“Then how about I give you a ride,” JT said, kneeling down.

Pasha scrambled onto his back and JT rose, carrying him piggyback.

“Where are the others?” Alessia asked.

“They were gonna try to get food and then meet us at the old water wheel,” JT answered.

Alessia looked around and then pointed.

“If we go that way we should end up at Millers Creek and then we can follow it downstream,” she said.

JT nodded and then frowned up at the canopy.

“It’ll be full dark by the time we get there,” he noted.

“Then we’d better get walking,” Alessia said sharply.


End file.
